Needless to say, this isn't a definitive "First Of" list. It's limited to the horns that have come to light
since December 2005, with the additions of the trumpets listed on Jim Donaldson's site (with his
permission). This list is constantly changing, of course, but it tries to cover all the possibilities.
If I've left out a possible category please let me know.
Chicago Benge Models
The first medium-large bore Bb: #500
The first medium bore Bb: #728
The first medium-large bore cornet: #897
The first large bore Bb: #1501
The first large bore cornet: #1581
The first medium-large bore C: #2429*
The first C with a French bell: #2466*
The first D: #2472
The first D/Eb: #2575
* C trumpet #2285 appears to be a cut-down Bb with a French bell
The last Chicago Benge: #3350
Burbank Benge Models
The first medium-large bore Bb: #3352
The first medium-large bore C: #3609
The first medium-large bore D/Eb: #4229
The first medium-large-plus bore Bb: #3885
The first medium-large-plus bore C: #4810
The first large bore Bb: #1705
The first cornet: #4119
The first pocket trumpet: #6246
As above, the following is not a definitive list. For example, none of the large bore Burbanks
were actually stamped with a 6; that started with the Los Angeles Benges. The first edition of the
Benge brochure (from the mid-1960s) didn't even list the L bores as a 6X! The list was as follows:
M, 2X, 2XP, 3X, 3XP, 4X, 5X, L.
By the second edition (1971) the M bore was listed as a 1X
and the L as a 6X, but before 1970 or so
it seemed enough just to stamp an M or an L on the horn.
The same goes for the 3X model, as, technically, the first 3X would have been a Chicago medium
large bore trumpet with the smaller bell. The 3 was not stamped on Burbanks until well into the
process; an unnumbered horn was assumed to be a 3X.
At this point I'm trying to discern the points
at which the model number was stamped on the actual trumpets.
Stamped Instruments (Burbanks)
The first 1X: #6453
The first 2X: #4194
The first 2X+: #5732
The first 3X: #4474
The first 3X+: #3938
The first 4X: none that I know of
The first 5X: #3735
The first 6X: none that I know of
The first 1C: #4810
The first 1C+: #4810
The first 2C: #4781
The first 2C+: #4870
The first 3C: As far as I can tell, the renaming of the 2C+ to the 3C occurred during the transition
from Burbank to Los Angeles. The 1971 catalog (from Olive St. in Los Angeles), lists a 1C, 2C
and 3C, with the 3C being an MLP. I have not yet found a Burbank C trumpet stamped with a 3;
I've also never found a Los Angeles MLP C trumpet stamped with a 2.
However, I would not be
surprised to find some transitional horns that did not fit this hypothesis.
The last Burbank bell with a street address: #8276
The first Burbank bell without a street address: #8280
Some have estimated the amount of Burbanks with no street address to be @400 horns;
I don't see it. Donald Benge put the
number at 50-60 horns; my guess is @100 instruments.
They're much rarer than was previously thought!
The last Burbank bell: #8380
Los Angeles Benge Models
I especially welcome additions to this list, as the vast majority of Los Angeles horns were out of the
scope of my early Benge project. However, I have started to gather data on the LA horns and I'll
be expanding the website as time goes on, so please submit info on LA instuments, too!
The first Los Angeles Benge: #8425
The first
Claude Gordon model: #9227
The first large bore cornet: #10776
The first 6X (actually stamped with a 6): #11519
The first flugelhorn: #18429
The first piccolo trumpet: #24127
The first herald trumpet: #24507
The first 4X: #12721
The first 7X: #41431
The first 1C:
The first 2C: #37017
The first 3C: #10138
The LA 3C is the same as the Burbank 2X+.
The first FL-1 flugel: #18429
The first FL-3 flugel: #24052
The first FL-5 flugel: #18443
The first 3X piccolo trumpet: #25601
The first 5X piccolo trumpet: #24127
The first 3Z cornet: #23779
The first 6Z cornet:
The first 8Z cornet: #29526
I'd especially like to narrow down the point at which the bells, instead of the ferrules, were first
stamped with numbers. Again, this is only a list of the horns that have come to light; please contact
me if you have an instrument that would make this list more accurate. It seems that there was not a
clear point at which the change took place, based on #19286, which had a custom-engraved bell,
and so left the factory later than horns with a similar number.
The latest ferrule with a number: #19286 (#19840 has both a stamp on the bell and the ferrule!)
The first bell with a number: #18988
Other than the earliest horns, Claude Gordon models, in general, have neither a bell number
nor a ferrule stamp. The latest CG with a ferrule stamp (so far) is #20000.
The first bell with a 1: #18429 (flugelhorn); (no trumpets yet)
The first bell with a 2: #19840
The first bell with a 3: #18988 (trumpet); #23779 (cornet); #24052 (flugelhorn); #25601 (piccolo)
The first bell with a 4: #31xxx
The first bell with a 5: #195xx (flugelhorn); #20800 (trumpet); #24127 (piccolo)
The first bell with a 6: #19684
The first bell with a 7: #41431
The first bell with a 8: #25926 (cornet)
The first medium bore C: none that I know of
The first large bore C: none that I know of
Post-Los Angeles Models
The was some overlap of numbers, it seems, between bells stamped "Los Angeles, California"
and those stamped "USA." That makes sense, as the specialty horns (anything but a Bb) were made in batches, but not fully assembled until an order was placed.
The last bell stamped 'Los Angeles': #42993 (Bb)
The first bells stamped 'USA': #42377 (piccolo); #43xxx (D/Eb); #42331 (flugel)
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